The 118-year-old Borough Hall subway station in Downtown Brooklyn is now fully accessible.
Marking Disability Pride Month, Governor Kathy Hochul and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Thursday celebrated the completion of the project, which made the station fully accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Upgrades include three new elevators, one street-to-mezzanine and two mezzanine-to-platform elevators serving both directions. In addition, project crews reconstructed platform edges and tactile strips and installed new ADA boarding areas.
Other improvements include modifications to the station agent booth and a new accessible employee bathroom. The project also addressed significant structural deterioration due to age and water infiltration. The station roof was renovated, and lighting, communications, fire alarm, plumbing, drainage and other critical station systems were upgraded. In addition, 1,000 square feet of historic tile mosaics from the original 1908 Interborough Rapid Transit Company station are being restored and reinstalled.
“Borough Hall is a vital connection to all that Downtown Brooklyn has to offer, but for too long, this transit hub was not accessible to all; today, that finally changes,” Hochul said in a statement. “New York’s transit renaissance is the result of historic investments in the lifeblood of our city, and a project like this to deliver much-needed accessibility upgrades and infrastructure repairs is proof positive that when you invest in transit, you help an entire community thrive.”
The improvements will serve the 4 and 5 train lines and will benefit 22,000 riders each day.
“Borough Hall station is the beating heart of booming Downtown Brooklyn," MTA Chair and Chief Executive Officer Janno Lieber said in a statement. "And thanks to federal IIJA funding, it’s now ADA accessible and a lot more functional for our riders.”
